Tuesday, September 08, 2015

Big big news!



Hey folks!  I have some big news for you… I’ve taken a job in Hamburg, Germany!  It’s a pretty exciting Art Directing gig with a mobile game company called Goodgame.  I’ll be working with 3 different teams on some unannounced projects.  Sue and Tommy will be staying behind for this school year and will then join me there next summer. 
Sadly, I won’t be attending ECCC this year, but I hope to be doing loads of drawing and painting while I’m on my own, so I’ll have loads to share here on the blog. 
It’s exciting and terrifying, but it should be an amazing experience… Sue and I have talked about living in Europe for a long time… we just didn't expect it to come along quite so soon. Life is full of surprises.
At any rate, I start on Oct. 1… wish me luck!

23 comments:

Rickart said...

Sorry about the weird formatting on the post... I copied this from something I had prewrote for this occasion and it kinda messed things up.

Surly Bird said...

Well, I can finally talk about your big adventure. Going to miss you so much, Rick. I'm still kind of in denial about this.

And ECCC will not be ECCC without you.

Marty, Tom: I say we form a crack commando team to pull off a Mission Impossible caper to bring Rick back to Seattle in April. We'll make a stop in Oklahoma and around the Sacramento Valley on our way back and haul Ellis and Jim in for a true 'Expendables' reunion. Stallone would be proud.

Rickart said...

Oh, I like this plan!

Rickart said...

The truth of the matter is that the TAG blog will be a lifeline to some of my best friends back home. I will probably end up contributing a lot more since (at least for the first few months) I'll be on my own.

JMG said...

WOW! You just keep moving on up. Congratulations.

JMG said...

I can go for that plan Ronnie.

MrGoodson2 said...

That sounds like a great move. Germany is a nice point to start the Euro exploration. I will look forward to the dispatches.

Congratulations on new challenge.

Davis Chino said...

Rick! Congrats on this! If we can't kidnap you back for an ECCC appearance, we promise to hold down the fort in yr absence!!

Who's with me?? Goodson, I think this is the year you are finally joining us in Seattle!

Tom Moon said...

Congratulations Rick! So this might be a permanent move? You're selling the house and buying something over there?

Rickart said...

The plan is to rent out our house. We expect this will be for a few years, but one never knows.

Tom Moon said...

I'm glad that you will be keeping your house. Maybe after a few years you will be anxious to return to us here in the good ol' U.S.A.

But hopefully while you're over there, you will make some inroads into the European comics scene!? What languages do you guys speak?

BDMontag said...

Congrats and Good luck!

Rickart said...

Sue speaks some French and Spanish. I don't speak much of anything, but I'm hoping to pick up some German. The office is all English speaking... it's the one common language among all the different nationalities represented there... I've meet a Greek, an Italian, a number of Englishmen and a few who I can't place exactly but are probably from somewhere in eastern Europe. I guess English is the most commonly taught language in Europe, so a lot of game companies use English as the dominate language in the office to accommodate the widest variety of candidates. I've met with them a few times and most of them speak very good English, even the ones from the UK.

MrGoodson2 said...

Remember the programmer at Blue Sky that was insane in the department of attraction to German girls. And was learning German for the sole reason to go to Germany and be with German women.

Tom Moon said...

Your reference rings a bell Ellis. Was that Scott LaFollette?

Got to hand it to you Rick. After all the moves you've been through, and now you're going through another one voluntarily! Quite a career you've had. What you guys are doing is the type of thing I might idly dream about, but couldn't get up the willpower to do in reality.

MrGoodson2 said...

That's the one Tom. And I've moved as many times but just not to great jobs. Just to minimize commute when i got the meh job.

Tom Moon said...

Funny you mention him Ellis. He just announced his wedding on Facebook a few months back. Don't know the bride's nationality.

Beata said...

That's exciting news, Rick!
Congratulations and best wishes on it all working out positively.

My favorite part of your post:
" ... most of them speak very good English, even the ones from the UK."

Rickart said...


Winston Churchill: "Americans and British are one people separated only by a common language."

Rickart said...

You can blame all of this in part on Marty... his and Blaire's exploits in Paris was pretty inspirational.

MrGoodson2 said...

Was the name Herr Schmitz any kind of help in getting hired?

Rickart said...

not really. At least not that I know of. I didn't run into any other Schmitzs when I was there. I did see Schmitz as a brand name a couple of times. One of the producers is named Wolfgang... how cool is that?!

MrGoodson2 said...

I was kinda joking. But it couldn't hurt. You'll fit right in with the name. Wolfgang would be a good co worker name. It beats Larry. That's my median level coworker name at Avis.